By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Praising the 2.1 million members of the Knights of Columbus for their faith, charity and defense of life, Pope Francis asked them to continue to pray and work for peace.

“In these times marked by new wars, conflicts and social unrest, the Holy Father has been untiring in calling all Christians to pray for justice, peace and reconciliation in our human family,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, wrote in a letter to Patrick Kelly, supreme knight of the Catholic fraternal organization.

Pope Francis “asks the Knights and their families to persevere in offering their prayers and Masses for the triumph of Christ’s peace in the hearts of all people and the building of the civilization of love,” the cardinal wrote in a message sent on behalf of the pope to the knights’ annual convention, which was being held Aug. 6-8 in Quebec.

Noting how the convention’s theme was on missionary discipleship, a key concern of the pope since the beginning of his pontificate, Cardinal Parolin said part of the “prophetic vision of Blessed Michael McGivney” in founding the knights was the need to bear witness to God’s love, “above all in service to the poor and in apostolic zeal for the building up of the Church in unity, fraternity and fidelity to the saving truth of the Gospel.”

Pope Francis wanted to thank the knights, he said, for their “concrete witness to the faith that works through love,” in their charitable activities, their “outstanding support and encouragement to efforts to defend God’s gift of life at every stage of its development, to uphold the dignity of the institution of marriage, and to advance the mission of the Church in developing countries.”

Cardinal Parolin said Pope Francis was grateful particularly for “the efforts of the Knights to care for the needs of our brothers and sisters in war-torn Ukraine, the Christian communities of the Middle East, and all those experiencing persecution for their faith in Christ; these are causes especially close to his heart as Pastor of the Universal Church.”

One project close to the Vatican — at the center of the Vatican, in fact — is the Knights of Columbus’ funding of the restoration of the soaring baldachin over the tomb of St. Peter and the papal altar in St. Peter’s Basilica. The knights are covering most of the costs of the project, which is estimated to be about $750,000.

The work is scheduled to be completed just before the beginning of the Holy Year, which formally opens Dec. 24.

Pope Francis hopes that as pilgrims view the baldachin, “they will be strengthened in faith and in unity with the Successor of Peter,” the cardinal said.

“His Holiness prays that the graces of the Holy Year will be poured out in abundance on the Knights and their families as they strive to fulfil their baptismal mission to be a leaven of peace and holiness in our human family, weary of war and yearning for the peace that only Christ can give,” he said.